Is Your Child Playing Tennis The Way You Want?

Special thanks to Elly Prior from professional-counselling.com for this guest article!

Are you concerned about your
child's behaviour and/or performance in tennis - whether during tennis
lessons or at tennis matches?

Here are some of the most common reasons why you may feel anxious/
worried or downright 'stressed out'.

You may perceive your son or daughter:

generally 'not behaving' as you would like him/her to

not paying enough attention to the tennis coach

'playing about' and not focusing on playing tennis

generally not being competive enough

not winning important or 'easy' games

not confident enough when playing tennis

not coping with the pressure of playing tennis at a high level

tired, stressed and 'fed up' with tennis

In addition you may feel that your child's tennis coach is not
dealing with your son or daughter as you would wish - too harsh or too
soft.

The Tennis Coach's Concerns

You can be sure though that
your tennis coach is concerned when he/she hears such expressions as:

How could you lose to him / her?

Why did you make so many double faults?

You shouldn't miss such easy balls!

Yet, he/she wants the same for your child as you do: a great tennis
experience whilst developing the child into the best tennis player he
or she is capable of.

He or she will be teaching your son/daughter: teamwork,
'stickability', hard
work and determination.

As well as practising tennis skills, your child will also learn how
to fail, pick him/herself up and 'move on' without fuss.

You Or Your Child?

You may have noticed that
the concerns I mentioned rougly fall into two categories. One
category
consists mainly about your concerns for the well-being of your
youngster, the other is more about your child's
performance.

However, your concerns may
say more about you than your
son or daughter. I know
this may feel a little harsh
and you may instinctively want to defend yourself.

However, just stick with me for a moment - I truly want the best for
you and your child. I
really want the both of you to enjoy and make the most of this great
opportunity of playing
tennis without any unnecessary pressure
and/or distress.

What Is Bothering You?

How you think, feel and behave,
not only with regards to your child's tennis lessons, but also in
general, may reflect how you feel about your
own childhood. It may be about how good you feel about
yourself.

Are you trying to prevent your child having to learn the lessons
'the hard way', like you?

Do you feel self conscious around people 'in authority', such as
the tennis coach?

Are you trying to compete with other parents?

Do you feel embarassed when your child 'misbehaves'?

Do you feel 'let down'
when your child is not playing well?

Do you and your partner have very different opinions on
'discipline'?

Is this causing arguments between the two of you?

Is that adding to the stress of other relationship
problems?

Do you feel anxious in social gatherings/at major competitions?

Do you tend to suffer from stress and/or depression?

Are you worried about the tennis is now stretching your finances?

How many questions did you answer with a yes? Maybe you can
begin to see now how your own
experience and your anxieties
may be affecting the way you deal with your son or daughter.

In addition, you may have other - very real - concerns:

Is your child's tennis taking up more of your time right now?

Is this child taking more of your time at a cost of siblings?

How Children React

Your anxiety may present
itself as such, or it may 'turn into' frustration and/or anger with
your child.

The more stressed or distressed, frustrated and/or angry you are,
the more anxious your son or daughter will be, whether consciously
and/or unconsciously.

Your Genetic Inheritance

You were born with an innate
set of responses - for survival's sake. Thousands of years ago,
being anxious would have meant an instinctive warning that your life
was in danger - there might have been a tiger in the bush and you were about to become its lunch!

In many ways your brain still reacts in that same way. The greater
the perceived threat, the higher our emotional arrousal in
terms of anger or anxiety, and the more likely we want to flee or fight.

An Anxious Child Does Not Play Tennis Well

Now consider, how
distructive this state of mind is for your son or
daughter, when he/she is learning how to play tennis.

His/her focus won't be entirely on the ball and their hearing will
instinctively filter out the tennis coach's voice and tune
into yours (alike tuning into twigs crackling underneath the tiger's
paws).

The more stressed/anxious your child is, the more difficult it is
for her/him to think straight, pay attention and process whatever the
coach is saying.

He/she will be acutely aware of you and your state of
mind. Subconcsiously
its focus is mainly on you, rather than the coach and the ball.

The harder you shout that he/she should pay attention and/or the
more
critical you are, the more anxious your child becomes - the worse it
behaves and or performs.
In a sense you are alike the tiger - a 'threat'.

I hope that this information helps you to better understand your
child's reactions on the tennis court, with the tennis coach and at
home,
with you, your partner/husband and with their siblings and friends.

Learning To Deal With The Pressure Of Competing

Of course your child will need
to learn to deal with pressure and stress. Playing tennis is a
great way of doing that. He/she will learn - over time - how not
to let the pressure turn into stress. Playing tennis - or indeed
any form of sport - and competing are a great way of doing that.

Several developmental factors have an impact on and determine your
son or daughter's behaviour and performance on the tennis court, such
as:

their sense of safety and security at home

their social well-being

their physical well-being and development

their emotional and mental well-being

Clearly playing tennis can potentially contribute to all of these
factors - if you allow it to happen - over time and in cooperation with
the tennis coach.

Too Much Pressure To Perform?

What happens if your child
continuous to feel under pressure to perform or 'do the right
thing' beyond the reasonable? If your son or daughter starts to
suffer badly from stress on the tennis court, it may result in anything to do with tennis becoming
a
problem.

Moreover, he/she may be storing up serious problems for the
future, such as a general lack of confidence, which may express itself
in:

You, Your Partner/Spouse And Your Child's Tennis

It is not at all unusual for
you and your partner to differ in opinion on how to deal with the
children. What matters is how
you deal with that difference.

If you are anxious about how the two of you deal with the challenges
your child brings, than you can bet that your child is aware of that
anxiety too.

If there is an obvious conflict between the two
of you with regards to the tennis (or anything else), your child will
have long picked up
on that and without a doubt that will be affecting his/her
performance. There is no point in blaming your
partner or yourself - that only leads to further trouble.
Just do something about it.

Does Your Child Really Have Natural Talent?

If the tennis coach has let
you know that your child can play fantastic tennis, but does not have a
natural talent, then please do
accept that. The time and energy taken to learn to play to a high standard may come at a cost to other
aspects of your child's development and overall well-being.

Overdevelopment in one area - here tennis - may mask your child's
natural ability and talent for something else entirely.

I hope that the information in this article will reduce any stress
around your son/daughter's playing tennis and your watching and
encouraging him or her.